Blog #3 Visual Argument

Visual argument is an effective way of posing a stand on an issue because of the emotion an image can evoke. I feel the emotional responses that are caused by visual arguments are the most important features. In Essentials of Argument it states that “visual argument operates more directly on the emotions than written argument because images communicate more directly than words”. An image can provide an audience with an immediate response that is less critical than print. While reading a person will tend to be more analytical than if they were simply looking at a picture. It is easy and quick so people do not have to take a lot of time thinking about what they are experiencing. Emotion is then important because it gets to the root of a person and trigger feelings that can persuade your audience to agree with your argument. Provoking emotion in your audience is vital to the successfulness of your visual argument.

Images surround us and we put labels on all of them. McCloud put it perfect when he called them icons rather than images or symbols. Symbol is a subcategory for the term icon, but icon is a better term to describe images because it is more general. I found that the most important feature of visual images because if you understand icons you can better understand the meaning of visual images. Icons can be used to represent anything using pictures, letters, faces, cartoons, etc. They can be generic, yet there are icons that are universally understood to be the same. The generalness of images is crucial to the idea of visual images, but also understanding the specificity is important.